'Arrow' recap: The Black Canary is revealed

"Arrow" has brought us the Black Canary. And the Black Canary is ... Sara Lance?

Apparently, Sara isn't quite as dead as Oliver led everyone to believe. In "Crucible," it becomes clear just how much deception has been at work, even if the process by which Sara became the Black Canary remains mysterious.

There's more to it than this, but the short version is that Sara is even more messed up than Oliver. Oh, and Oliver lied through his teeth about Sara dying on the yacht. He knows for a fact that she survived that part, even if he did see her later on.

The Canary's song

It's mere seconds into "Crucible" that Oliver and Sara are officially reunited. They don't exactly have the happy meeting one might expect from lovers. That might be because Sara doesn't want anyone from her past to know that she's alive. In addition to Oliver, this of course means her family.

Bad things happened to Sara. Based on her feelings about women being attacked by men, rape seems likely. Brutality is a definite.

Whatever the case, Sara is willing to see Oliver -- at least occasionally. In an interesting twist, she asks about Slade Wilson. When Oliver evades the question, does that mean that Slade is dead?

After the events of the episode are over, it seems like Oliver has actually convinced Sara that it's a good idea to see her father and sister again. Considering that Laurel is popping pills and getting pulled over for drunk driving (and generally being a jerk to everyone in the process), maybe seeing a ghost will be good for the Lance family.

Oliver, however, is likely to be ostracized for not saying that Sara could be alive.

A new Mayor in town

You know Starling City is in trouble when a gang leader calls himself The Mayor and enforces his rules with the use of military-grade weaponry. Fortunately, the city also has a vigilante (or two) trying to save the same city.

Oliver first gets the weapons (after Felicity tracks them with her computer wizardry), but the Mayor slips away. Motivation to get the guy becomes even stronger when the Mayor shoots up a gun trade-in event. Oliver, Thea, Roy and Sebastian Blood are almost hit. Sin takes a bullet.

It turns out that this mean old Mayor is a man named Xavier Reed. The Arrow team figures out that the Mayor is getting his weapons from a former foster brother who will be shipping more guns that same night.

Two vigilantes are better than one

It is actually kind of nice for Oliver to have another mysterious fighter hanging around in Starling City. After all, he now has someone to play with!

Oliver and Sara play very well together too, much to the dismay of the Mayor. The two heroes take down the bad guys and capture the Mayor. Sara even refrains from killing the bad man when he calls her a b****.

Obviously, Oliver is a calming influence on Sara.

Back on the ship

That calming influence may explain how both of them managed to survive the hell that was that slave ship on which we last saw Oliver. This week, he's in a cage and being interrogated by an angry man. Unfortunately for Oliver, this angry man has a gun.

As a result of this, Oliver gets shot in the side. But, in an odd twist, he then gets a medical kit with which he can remove the bullet and survive. According to the depressed and angry Russian guy in the next cell over, this is to prove strength.

Oliver passes the test. His tormentor still wants information though. When Oliver proves unwilling to give that info, he is taken to a rather nice room and thrown to the floor. The head torture person and a person even scarier than gun-man shows up to ask about the Japanese bodies next.

That person is Sara. Bad things definitely happened to her.

There will be Blood

In case you hadn't figured it out yet, there is more going on with Sebastian Blood than just political grandstanding and a devoted effort to save the Glades. We find out exactly what else this guy is up to in "Crucible."

You see, the Mayor may not have been killed, but he didn't end up in jail either. Instead, the man wakes up, bound to a chair and facing a strange man in a stranger mask. The masked man repeatedly asks if the Mayor is "ready to serve" before injecting the criminal with something -- the intent seems to make a strong soldier out of him.

The result is just death and bleeding from the eyeballs. Undaunted, the masked man reveals his true face and demands another guinea pig.

Why hello, Sebastian Blood! Or should we say Brother Blood as your cop friend just did.

Something very strange and definitely sinister is afoot in Starling City.